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Home> Announcements> Photo Gallery> March 2021> International Symposium on IP and Environmental Issues Co-hosted by the Trilateral Patent Offices

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International Symposium on IP and Environmental Issues Co-hosted by the Trilateral Patent Offices

March 18, 2022

On Thursday, March 17, 2022, an international symposium titled “Trilateral Symposium on IP and Environmental Issues - Contribution of the patent system towards Carbon Neutral” was held via video conference. The main host of the symposium was the Japan Patent Office (JPO), with additional hosting provided by the European Patent Office (EPO) and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

The symposium received additional support from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Japan Intellectual Property Association (JIPA), BusinessEurope (BE), American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA), and Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO), which are the trilateral users’ associations of Japan, Europe, and the United States.

This was the first time for an international IP symposium on environmental issues to be held jointly by the Trilateral Offices. The purpose of the symposium was to introduce case studies regarding the development and dissemination of carbon-neutral technologies through strategic use of the patent system, and to discuss the contribution of IP toward achieving carbon neutrality.

After opening remarks by JPO Commissioner Mori, EPO Vice-President Rowan, and USPTO Acting Director Hirshfeld , the keynote speech was given by WIPO Director General (DG) Tang.

The symposium featured presentations from three pioneers in their respective regions with regard to the development and diffusion of carbon neutral technologies that make good use of IP: Japan (Mr. Izumo, President and founder of Euglena Co., Ltd.), Europe (Dr. Schuster, CTO and co-founder of Orcan Energy), and the U.S. (Mr. Katsaros, CEO and founder of Nokero). 

After the presentations, a panel discussion took place to further discuss the contribution of IP toward achieving carbon neutrality. Dr. Kwakwa, Assistant Director General (ADG) of the WIPO, moderated the discussion; while Mr. Bekku from JIPA, Mr. Bauvir from BE, Mr. Petti from AIPLA, and Mr. Brodie from IPO participated on behalf of the trilateral users’ associations. Mr. Fukuda from the JPO, Dr. Meniere from the EPO, and Dr. Toole from the USPTO also participated on behalf of the Trilateral Offices.The Joint Statement on environmental issues, the first of its kind by the Trilateral Offices, was also adopted following the outcome of the symposium.

Trilateral Joint Statement on IP & environmental issues (External Link)（PDF：135KB）

The Japan Patent Office, the European Patent Office and the United States Patent and Trademark Office will continue to cooperate in order to promote solutions to environmental issues through the intellectual property system.

For more details, please refer to "International Symposium on IP and Environmental Issues co-hosted by the Trilateral Offices".

Archived videos of this symposium are now available on JPO Channel on YouTube.

(screenshot) online conference
Opening remarks and keynote speech
Upper Left: Mr. Mori, Commissioner of the JPO
Upper Right: Mr. Rowan, Vice-President of the EPO
Lower Left: Mr. Hirshfeld, Acting Director of the USPTO
Lower Right: Mr. Tang, DG of the WIPO

(screenshot) online conference
Representatives from Japan, Europe, and the U.S.
Left: Mr. Izumo, President of Euglena Co., Ltd. (Japan)
Center: Dr. Schuster, CTO of Orcan Energy (Europe)
Right: Mr. Katsaros, CEO of Nokero (U.S.)

(screenshot) online conference
Panel discussion
Upper side from left: Mr. Bekku (JIPA), Mr. Bauvir (BE), Mr. Petti (AIPLA), Mr. Brodie (IPO)
Lower side from left: Mr. Fukuda (JPO), Dr. Meniere (EPO), Dr. Toole (USPTO), Dr. Kwakwa (WIPO)

(screenshot) online conference
Mr. Mori, Commissioner of the JPO, presented a thank-you letter to Mr. Izumo, President of Euglena Co., Ltd.

[Last updated 16 May 2022]

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